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SIDNEY WOOLLETT 



THE RECORD OF HIS CAREER AS A 
PUBLIC RECITER 



EDITED BY 



GEORGE EDGAR MONTGOMERY 



NEW YORK 

P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

27 AND 29 WEST 23D STREET 
1886 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT 



THE RECORD OF HIS CAREER AS A 
PUBLIC RECITER 



EDITED BY 



GEORGE EDGAR MONTGOMERY 



NEW YORK 

P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

27 AND 29 WEST 23D STREET 
1886 



7N *° V 



v/- 



Mt 



By transfer 
20 '06 



PREFACE. 



After winning, and holding during many years, 
the admiration and respect of Eastern audiences, 
my friend, Mr. Sidney Woollett is about to visit the 
West for the first time. He will find himself in a 
community whose knowledge of his work does not 
extend beyond hearsay. It seemed proper, there- 
fore, that some record of his accomplishment should 
be written in a condensed and convenient form, and 
this little pamphlet will probably serve the purpose 
of such a record. I have not endeavored to eulogize 
Mr. Woollett at the expense of others in his profes- 
sion, though I have laid stress on the peculiar 
distinction which belongs to his work. That dis- 
tinction is loyalty to a high literary ideal. Mr. 
Woollett is essentially the interpreter of what is 
best in literature. 

The audiences of the West are not less intelligent 
and appreciative than those of the East, and it is 
hard to believe that Mr. Woollett, who has enter- 
tained us so long and so delightfully, will fail to gain 
their applause and encouragement. 



4 PREFACE. 

There was nothing irksome in the task of prepar- 
ing this record ; it was, in fact, a particularly pleasant 
task, since the writer knows that work like Mr. 
Woollett's has a beneficial effect upon public taste, 
which is always more apt to go wrong than right. 
If this pamphlet shall help to enlarge Mr. Woollett's 
audience, and shall make friends for him where there 
were only strangers, it will acquire a value that it 
can hardly lay claim to now. 

The few letters and extracts from newspapers 
which have been reprinted disclose with singular 
unanimity the esteem in which Mr. Woollett is held 
by exacting critics and thoughtful observers in the 
East. G. E. M. 

New York, December 31, 1885. 



I, 



Public reading and reciting, when these forms of 
interpretation are applied to the most serious litera- 
ture, have a value which cannot be underestimated 
by thoughtless comment or frivolous taste. The 
method of reciting is, I should add, more spontane- 
ous, and, therefore, more effective, than the method 
of reading. The reader is unable to give a perfectly 
free, rapid, and natural rendering of any subject ; his 
dependence upon written or printed pages places him 
at a disadvantage — a disadvantage that the finest 
skill and talent seldom overcome. The strongest 
preachers and lecturers are those who speak, not 
from their notes, but from their memories and from 
the unobstructed heat of the heart. Readers and re- 
citers may be compared to preachers who discourse 
with notes or without notes. The reader gives too 
much thought to his book, and is necessarily ham- 
pered by uncertainty of purpose. The reciter gives 
thought wholly to his subject, and never loses sight 
of this. 

The position of the reader or reciter among inter- 
preters of fine art — and, of course, I use that expres- 
sion in its proper sense, since the highest literature 

5 



6 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

is the highest art — has been disputed with truculence. 
There are persons who regard the reciter, for example, 
as a formal " elocutionist." The actor regards him 
as an interloper, in almost the same light that a 
scholar might look upon a pedagogue. Others are 
disposed to call him a disappointed actor, a man 
that stands on the outside of art. But the re- 
citer, when he holds his place with dignity and 
knowledge, is distinctly an artist, and an artist of 
rare quality. If an actor who expresses in speech 
and action a character of Shakspeare is described as 
an artist, why should not a reciter who expresses a 
drama of Shakspeare be described likewise ? The 
reciter's task is, in fact, the harder one. It has 
broader scope and feeling, it has deeper intellect and 
design, it is something complete, not something frag- 
mentary — that is to say, from an author's point of 
view. 

It is useless, perhaps, to argue upon this matter. 
An educated taste must find in the recital of great 
poems and literary works a pleasure that is refined 
and inspiring. Any reciter who is able to interpret 
such works, to make their meaning apparent to our 
hearts and imaginations, accomplishes, without ques- 
tion, a labor which should be ranked with noble act- 
ing — though I will not fall into the error of saying 
that it is acting. Well- equipped readers may make 
but indifferent actors. There must exist certain 
natural qualifications for the stage which need not be 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 7 

essential for the platform — yet elocution is an im- 
portant factor on the stage, though a neglected one, 
and the qualifications necessary for the actor, if 
possessed by the elocutionist, must be in the latter's 
favor. Elocution for its own sake is of little worth. 
A person who reads or recites merely to exhibit his 
dexterity, wastes time and force. It is only when this 
dexterity is applied patiently to the elucidation of 
creative genius, as on the stage, that it is used with 
right, artistic object. 

Actors are not wise when they treat reciters with 
an affected superiority. The superiority of the aver- 
age actor over the reciter is this : he appears on a 
larger stage, before a more numerous audience, and 
amid more stimulating and popular circumstances. 
Every means is given to the actor to help him sink 
his individuality — if he happens, by good luck, to 
possess an individuality — in some character. The 
reciter is obliged to create an extraordinary illusion, 
to lose himself in various individualities simultane- 
ously. I am speaking now of the reciter who inter- 
prets a complex drama like " Hamlet" or " Mac- 
beth." Imagine the difficulties which beset him ! 
He must hold a long and intricate work in his mem- 
ory. He must have a lucid conception of every per- 
sonage in the play. He must understand the exact 
value of each word, of each inflection, of each 
motive. The work must be to him, in other words, 
an open book, and he must be so precise in his ex- 



8 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

position of it, that no one shall fail to comprehend its 
meaning. How many actors on the stage to-day 
could do for the Shakspearean plays what three or 
four reciters are doina- at this moment ? 

In another sense, the reciter fills a place which 
would be almost vacant without him — a place which 
grows ampler from year to year. It is well under- 
stood that our stage entertainments which are most 
popular appeal to a taste that, to say the best of it, is 
not intelligent. The theatres are filled with horse- 
play, buffoonery, dull melodrama, and ridiculous 
pretension. The good play or the good actor is 
an exception there. Those men and women, in 
consequence, who turn from the playhouse with 
disapproval, welcome the reciter, who supplants, in 
a measure, the old-fashioned actor — the actor of 
Shakspeare and other masters. 

Among the reciters who, in their careers, have 
always been on the side of what is enduring in lit- 
erature and art, who have upheld courageously in 
their work a fine ideal, who have attempted invaria- 
bly to satisfy an exacting taste, Mr. Sidney Woollett 
is to-day most experienced and most conspicuous. 
Mr. Woollett won his reputation long ago, and has 
done what few readers or reciters have cared to do 
— maintained an unimpeachably high literary stand- 
ard. He has not cheapened his programmes with 
feeble poems, farcical sketches, oratorical tricks, and 
vocal gymnastics, to please a miscellaneous audience, 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 9 

but has interpreted only the best literature ; nothing 
appears upon his programmes — a fact that I shall be 
glad to demonstrate — except what is recognized as 
pure literary composition. This is tantamount to as- 
serting that Mr. Woollett has aimed steadfastly in his 
recitals at an intellectual purpose, and his honorable 
record bears out that assertion. A limited audience 
of culture and refinement, which became more 
numerous from year to year, has, in a measure, been 
created for this work ; and among the readers who 
appeal to that audience Mr. Woollett has always 
maintained his position. Mr. Wendell Phillips in 
February, 1875, wrote to a friend in Philadelphia: 
" Woollett is doing wonders here in Boston, the best 
element in the city attend his recitations, and all are 
enthusiastic about him. Fanny Kemble in her prime 
did not draw out finer gatherings ; he is an earnest, 
intellectual student, an artist and a gentleman ; to 
listen to his interpretations is instruction and delight, 
he is my friend, I love him, and commend him to 
you." 

I had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Woollett for 
the first time in 1880, and wrote, in the New York 
Times, this comment upon his recital of " Macbeth " : 
" Mr. Woollett is an Englishman and is still young. 
He has made a life-study of Shakspeare's works. He 
holds in his memory most of the text of Shaks- 
peare's leading plays, the stage directions which ac- 
company the text, and other matters of detail^which 



IO SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

might alone confuse an ordinary mind. Mr. Wool- 
lett brings an earnest, searching spirit to his task, and 
faculties of a high order. He is remarkably effective 
in scenes of special breadth and energy, and he 
passes from character to character in a manner akin 
to that of the actor. There is no trace of effeminacy 
in his elocution, bearing, or action, No better illus- 
tration of his power could be given than his reading 
of ' Macbeth.' He recited this black, bloody, and 
supernatural play from beginning to end with a sus- 
tained force which was amazing. His gestures and 
readings in the opening scene and in several of those 
marvellous pictures of human passion so familiar to 
the reader, were deeply suggestive of intellectual 
vigor and imaginative insight. ,, 

This was not over-praise, by any means. Mr. 
Woollett is essentially a strong reader, a reader 
whose work, at its highest, is marked by forcible 
impulse, intensity, and masculine will. It should 
not be inferred from this statement that he confines 
himself to a limited class of characters, plays, and 
poems. His repertory, in fact, is much larger than 
that of any reciter now before our public. It in- 
cludes the masterpieces of Shakspeare, several old 
and famous dramas, the idyls of Tennyson, the 
poems of Longfellow, and hundreds of short pieces. 
His Longfellow and Tennyson recitals have been 
heard frequently in New York, Boston, Brooklyn, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other large cities, and 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. II 

have always been exceedingly popular. There is 
no disagreeable pedantry in Mr. Woollett's reading. 
Yet the scholarship is there, since his work is note- 
worthy for ripe thought, true sympathy, and acute 
understanding. Every line that he recites has been 
tested skilfully, and no one can pretend that it lacks 
definite significance ; one may quarrel, perhaps, with 
his conclusion or judgment now and then, but the 
judgment has been reached by thoughtful process 
and is offered for what it is worth. It will hardly be 
gainsaid, I fancy, that Mr. Woollett is an intelligent 
reader. He is more apt, on the whole, to be right 
than his critic is. Personally, Mr. Woollett has many 
physical advantages. His appearance is striking, his 
face intellectual, his eye quick and expressive, his 
voice rich and deep-toned. His enunciation is clear- 
cut, his gestures simple and vigorous. His action 
is carried frequently to the point of acting. What- 
ever he undertakes is so full of sincerity that one is 
unconsciously stirred by it. There is a decided proba- 
bility that Mr. Woollett would have acquired distinc- 
tion on the stage ; many of his admirers have 
strongly urged him to abandon the platform and 
attempt the stage. 

I should like to write at some length of Mr. 
Woollett's memory, which is certainly phenomenal. 
But I cannot do better than to quote from a very 
interesting report printed a few years ago in a Phila- 
delphia newspaper : " Among the most remarkable 



12 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

instances of mnemonic power on record, that of Mr. 
Sidney Woollett, the reciter, will always have a 
prominent place. Mr. Woollett is a young English- 
man, thirty years of age, who has been giving reci- 
tations of late in this country. There was nothing 
peculiar in the psychological history of his family, so 
far as we can ascertain, nor any antetype to his 
prodigious memory. The faculty, which is now so 
extraordinary, developed itself by degrees, and quite 
without his volition. His mind did not merely select 
for retention such pieces as he liked, but absorbed 
whatever it chanced upon, independently of his choice. 
He describes the process as follows : He reads 
something over once, then lays it aside, dismissing 
the subject from his mind, often for a week or two ; 
then he finds it coming back to him by bits at a time, 
and finally, either with or without another reading, 
it settles, as it were, into the plastic substance of his 
memory. Once fixed, it never leaves him, and so it 
happens that he can recite, at the shortest notice, 
any one of two or three thousand poetical composi- 
tions." 



II. 



I have said that Mr. Woollett maintains, and has 
always maintained, in his programmes an unim- 
peachable literary standard. His repertory com- 
prises nearly a score of dramas, among them 
Shakspeare's " Merchant of Venice," " Hamlet," 
" Othello," " Macbeth," " As You Like It," " Henry 
VIII.," " King John," " Much Ado about Nothing," 
" The Tempest," " Midsummer Night's Dream," 
u King Lear," " Twelfth Night," and " Julius Caesar." 
He is letter-perfect in Longfellow's " Evangeline," 
" Hiawatha," and " The Courtship of Miles Stand- 
ish " ; in Tennyson's " Idyls of the King," " The 
Princess," and " Enoch Arden " ; in Sir Henry 
Taylor's " Philip Van Artevelde " ; in Byron's " Childe 
Harold," " The Siege of Corinth," " The Corsair," 
and " The Prisoner of Chillon " ; in Scott's " Lady of 
the Lake " and " Marmion " ; in Keats's " Eve of 
St. Agnes," Parnell's " Hermit," Hood's " Dream of 
Eugene Aram," Macklin's "The Man of the World," 
Sheridan's " School for Scandal," — not to speak of 
pages from Dickens and other novelists, and a 
thousand or more short poems by authors ranging 
from Milton to Will Carleton. 

13 



14 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

This is a remarkable showing ; and the amount of 
thought and persistent study which has been given 
by Mr. Woollett to all these works is not less aston- 
ishing than the memory which retains them in one 
man's brain. 

Among the short poems and sketches that Mr. 
Woollett recites from time to time — usually by way 
of contrast to more serious work — are these : " My 
Uncle Toby," by Sterne ; " The Life- Boat," by G. 
R. Sims ; " The Belle of the Ball-Room," by Praed ; 
" The Old Sedan Chair," by Austin Dobson ; 
" Grandmamma," by Locker ; " The Last Leaf," by 
Holmes ; " Horatius at the Bridge," by Macaulay ; 
" The Cane-bottomed Chair," by Thackeray ; " The 
Speech of Mr. Sergeant Buzfuz," by Dickens ; " The 
Grandmother's Apology," by Tennyson ; " Anne 
Hathaway," attributed to Shakspeare ; " Sir Perti- 
nax MacSycophant," by Macklin ; " The Building of 
the Ship," by Longfellow ; " King Volmer and Little 
Elsie," by Whittier ; " The Romance of a Swan's 
Nest," by Mrs. Browning ; " The Well of St. 
Keyne," by Southey ; " Reflections," by Jean Inge- 
low ; " Ode to a Skylark," by Shelley ; " The Vaga- 
bonds," by Trowbridge ; " The Faithful Soul," by 
Adelaide Procter ; sketches from Robertson's " David 
Garrick " ; poems from Longfellow's " Tales of a 
Wayside Inn " ; " Paradise and the Peri," by Moore ; 
" Morte d'Arthur," by Tennyson ; " Tarn O'Shanter," 
by Burns ; " The Haunch of Venison," by Gold- 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. I 5 

smith ; " The Glove," by Robert Browning ; " The 
Northern Farmer," by Tennyson ; " Flora McFlim- 
sey," by Butler ; " My First Rout," by Thackeray ; 
extracts from the " Ingoldsby Legends " ; " King 
Robert of Sicily," by Longfellow ; parts of Longfel- 
low's " Golden Legend " ; " John Gilpin's Ride," by 
Cowper ; " The Yarn of the Nancy Belle," by Gil- 
bert ; " Betsy and I Are Out," by Will Carleton ; 
" Young Lochinvar," by Scott. 

I need not make the list any longer, although it 
might be extended almost indefinitely. Most of the 
British and American poets of distinction are repre- 
sented in Mr. Woollett's programmes, which, it will 
be seen, do not lack variety or catholic scope. 



III. 



Mr. Sidney Woollett first began to give public re- 
citals from memory, in London, some time during the 
year 1867. He was then a very young man, and he 
attracted a great deal of attention immediately. In 
1868 he gave a popular course of poetic recitals at 
the Queen's Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, and in- 
terpreted that very beautiful and melodious poem by 
Longfellow, " Hiawatha." His audiences were large 
and sympathetic then, and the press of London spoke 
of his work with marked favor. Journals of great in- 
fluence, like the Standard, the Telegraph, the Morn- 
ing Chronicle, and the Times, printed extended com- 
ments upon it. The Times spoke of Mr. Woollett as 
" the best dramatic reader of the day," and described 
his recital of " Hiawatha " as " the finest intellectual 
treat in London." Subsequently Mr. Woollett ac- 
cepted engagements in various parts of England, and 
was received everywhere with approval and applause. 
In 1869 the London Era said at the conclusion of a 
long article : " On seeing Mr. Woollett again we are 
inclined to advise him to turn his attention to the 
stage, for which he has rare capabilities. The plat- 
form can spare him, because he is above the run of 

16 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. I?' 

platform readers and reciters, while to the stage, and 
its wide and important field, Mr. Woollett would be a 
great acquisition." As a matter of fact, Mr. Wool- 
lett's inclinations tended towards the stage, and it 
was inevitable that he should sooner or later make 
his appearance upon it. Moving in the bent of his 
ambition, he finally effected his debut as an actor, at 
about this period, in the Theatre Royal, Richmond, 
in Surrey. He was announced as the " Amateur 
Tragedian," but was supported by a company of 
professional actors, and all were astonished at the 
success of this experiment. Mr. Woollett, during 
his engagement, performed such characters as Ham- 
let, Macbeth, Skylock, Othello, Iago, and Alfred Eveyln, 
before crowded audiences. Mr. Charles Fechter, 
then manager of the Lyceum Theater, London, was 
so well pleased with the young actor's work that he 
tried to induce Mr. Woollett to join the Lyceum Com- 
pany as " leading man." 

But the prejudices of his family were strong 
against the stage ; in deference to his kinspeople, 
Mr. Woollett gave up, reluctantly, his chief ambition, 
and devoted himself thereafter to the more arduous 
occupation of a public reciter. 

Again, at the rooms in Hanover Square, his recital 
of " Hiawatha " attracted even more attention and 
interest than it had previously commanded. On May 
26, 1870, Mr. Woollett delivered a lecture on the pic- 
torial beauties of Longfellow, interspersed with reci- 



1 8 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

tations from the American poets, before The Society 
for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, in London, and 
in September of the same year he sailed for 
America. 

In this country he began a prosperous career at 
once, and the prosperity of it has lasted almost unin- 
terruptedly until the present time. He was accepted 
quickly as a dramatic and poetic interpreter of stand- 
ard literary work — as an interpreter of fine insight 
and exceptional power. Larger experience has 
added much to this insight and this power, and he 
continues to receive engagements, as he received 
them long ago, from the most thoughtful classes and 
communities. The extent of Mr. Woollett's labor 
may be imagined when it is said that he has often 
given as many as eight entertainments each week 
in the season. During the summer he rests quietly 
at Newport. 

Mr. Woollett made his first appearance at New 
York during the season of 1870-71. He gave a 
series of recitals then at the old Chickering Hall, in 
Fourteenth Street, where his audiences were large 
and fashionable. He was almost alone in a field which 
is now somewhat crowded, and the artistic quality of 
his reading, the impressiveness of his programmes, 
the scope and tenacity of his memory, astonished and 
delighted our people. His success in New York was 
repeated during the following summer at Newport. 
It should be stated here, by the way, that Mr. Wool- 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT, 1 9 

lett's achievements in New York and Newport were 
gained without the help of advertisement in the public 
press, and it was not until 1872 that he began to find a 
wider publicity for his entertainments, and to become 
the subject of newspaper comment. One of the 
most important recitals which he offered in that year 
was heard at the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, on 
February 23d. This recital was delivered in re- 
sponse to an invitation signed by the Rev. Henry 
Ward Beecher, Rev. Noah Hunt Schenck, Mr. D- 
H. Cochran, Mr. N. Denison Morgan, Mr. A. Crit- 
tenden, Rev. Charles H. Hall, Mr. Henry C. Pierre - 
pont, Mr. A. A. Low, Mr. Demas Barnes, and about 
twenty other prominent gentlemen of Brooklyn. He 
recited then Longfellow's poem, " The Courtship of 
Miles Standish," and was applauded with enthusiasm. 
The Brooklyn Eagle praised his reading in the most 
forcible words. For the remainder of the season Mr. 
Woollett was constantly in demand. He gave a re- 
cital on almost every night during several months, 
his repertory being made up chiefly of long poems 
like " Miles Standish," " Enoch Arden," and " Hia- 
watha," and of miscellaneous selections. 

In May, 1872, Mr. Woollett was invited to recite 
in Boston. The letter of invitation, which was sent 
to him voluntarily, had appended names like Phillips 
Brooks, James T. Field, George S. Hillard, F. H. 
Hedge, Amos A. Lawrence, Edward Everett Hale, 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Robert C. Winthrop, Wen- 



20 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

dell Phillips, E. R. Mudge, and S. K. Lothrop. Mr. 
Woollett's selection was " Miles Standish." The 
impression made by his reading may be gathered 
from the following description of it, which was writ- 
ten by Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton and printed 
in the New York Tribune : 

" Few readers have ever come before a Boston public of so 
delicate and fine a quality. There was no lack of such dra- 
matic power as could be brought to bear upon the interpreta- 
tion of a quiet poet like Longfellow ; but dramatic power was 
not the thing of which you chiefly thought. It was not the 
boldness of the outline, but the delicacy of the shading which 
caught your eye. No daintiness of conceit was so subtle as to 
escape the reader. He was by turns bluff Miles Standish, the 
warlike captain, hearty, passionate, and strong ; John Alden, 
the scribe, scholar, and gentleman, and tender lover ; and, 
most marvellous of all, he was Priscilla, charming little com- 
bination of honesty and coquetry, of English reserve and 
Puritan straightforwardness, altogether a woman, and just fit 
for human nature's daily food. I have said nothing of the 
wonderful power of memory displayed in the recitation, with- 
out a single reference to the book, of this poem, occupying 
more than an hoar and a half. Such feats are within the com- 
pass of very few, and are matter of admiration rather than 
emulation ; but after hearing Mr. Woollett we shall at least 
require of our public readers, that they be natural, and no 
longer tear passion to tatters." 

Mr. Woollett was afterwards invited to appear at 
New Haven, in a letter signed by the faculty of Yale 
College, including such names as President Noah 
Porter, Dr. Woolsey, Dr. Bacon, Prof. Silliman, and 
Prof. Francis Wayland. While in New Haven, Mr. 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 21 

Woollett opened the course of lectures at the Young 
Men's Institute. Prof. Wayland showed exceptional 
courtesy to the young English reader by making 
these references to Mr. Woollett's recitals in the 
New Haven Palladium : 

" The fact that this was the fourth appearance of Mr. Wool- 
lett before a New Haven audience, including two engage- 
ments by the Young Men's Institute and two recitations for the 
benefit of a local charity, serves to show that he has made him- 
self a favorite in our community. The programme for Wednes- 
day evening comprised a judicious selection from such well- 
known authors as Thackeray, Praed, Trowbridge, Macaulay, 
and Shakspeare. Alike in humorous and pathetic pieces, Mr. 
AVoollett displayed excellent taste, a natural and graceful de- 
livery, an accurate appreciation of the author's thought, and a 
magnetic power over his audience. Alike free from that noisy 
rant which often creates a smile when tears are called for, and 
from that cheap buffoonery which degrades the humorist into 
the clown, he dignifies his profession by portraying with abso- 
lute truthfulness the correct conception of the poet's idea." 

During the years 1873 an ^ 1874, Mr. Woollett 
was constantly engaged to lecture organizations and 
private committees. He gave long courses of Shaks- 
pearean plays, and of poems by Tennyson and Long- 
fellow, in New England and in the suburbs of New 
York. At Boston he gave a course of six recitals, 
in Horticultural Hall. His success there was complete 
and brilliant. The hall was, on more than one occa- 
sion, too small for the audience that desired accom- 
modation. On his next appearance in Boston, Mr. 
Woollett's course of recitals comprised six dramas by 



22 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

Shakspeare and six poems by Longfellow or Ten- 
nyson. The Boston Advertiser then declared that 
" nothing of this intellectual character had ever before 
been attempted in Boston," and that " no reader since 
Fanny Kemble Butler had called out such audiences." 
During the season of 1875, Mr. Woollett gave not 
less than twenty successful recitals in' Boston, while 
he appeared frequently in adjacent cities. 

On March 23, 1875, the following testimonial was 
presented to Mr. Woollett, and was signed by the 
prominent men of Boston, headed by Phillips Brooks, 
josiah Quincy, R. C. Waterston, Wendell Phillips, A. 
P. Peabody, Charles Levi Woodbury, Samuel Eliot, 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, George S. Hillard, and 
James T. Fields : 

" We, the undersigned, having listened to several of Mr. 
Sidney Woollett's recitations, various and judicious in their 
selection, and calling forth in a remarkable degree his extra- 
ordinary powers, feel it to be an act of simple justice to express 
our hearty commendation of his successful efforts. 

" Mr. Woollett becomes to his audience the living impersona- 
tion of what he recites. Relying upon an unfailing and ap- 
parently inexhaustible memory, the words he utters appear like 
the spontaneous expression of his own thought. Gifted with a 
flexible, sympathetic voice, his countenance varying with every 
shade of feeling, he becomes the interpreter alike of subtle 
sentiments, and the profoundest, or it may be the most con- 
flicting emotions. The whole realm of thought becomes a vivid 
reality. We listen now to the gentlest persuasion, again to the 
recital of some thrilling event, rapt in breathless suspense ; or 
we find ourselves startled by the overwhelming outburst of 
tremendous passion. 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 23 

" The choicest productions of the best authors are brought 
powerfully before us, with their exquisite humor or tender 
pathos, while each scene is portrayed with such individual 
characteristics, discriminating judgment, and manly strength, 
that to listen becomes a pleasure and a fascination. 

" Wishing for others the same pleasure we have enjoyed 
ourselves, we heartily commend him to the good-will of all, 
earnestly desiring for him that continued and extended suc- 
cess which we think he most truly deserves." 

Mr. Woollett's pleasant experience in Boston was 
followed by similar experiences in Baltimore, Phila- 
delphia, and other leading cities. Mr. T. B. Pugh, 
manager of the well-known Star Course of Lectures, 
said, in a marginal note to his circular, when Mr. 
Woollett visited Philadelphia, " that he had no hes- 
itation in assuring the patrons of the Star Course, 
that no such artistic entertainments had ever been 
given in Philadelphia, as the present series of 
Shakspearean recitals by Mr. Sidney Woollett." 

Between the years 1876 and 1880, Mr. Wool- 
lett extended his repertory until it embraced most of 
the great works and poems which now make it so 
extraordinary for range and literary quality. He 
repeated again and again in cities of the Eastern and 
Middle States the triumphs of early years. In the 
spring of 1880 he effected his second noteworthy 
appearance in New York, and recited the following 
plays at matinees : " The Merchant of Venice," 
" Henry V.," " Macbeth," " King John," " Much 
Ado About Nothing," and " Hamlet." The audi- 



24 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

ences which attended these matinees were invariably 
large and appreciative. During subsequent seasons, 
Mr. Woollett recited at the Casino Theatre in New- 
port, at the Hawthorne Rooms in Boston, at Chick - 
ering Hall and the Turf Club Theatre (now known as 
the University Club Theatre) in New York, at 
Chickering Hall in Boston, and in other places where 
he had been frequently heard and applauded. Last 
spring he gave another course in New York, at the 
University Club Theatre, and recited Shakspeare's 
" Tempest," Tennyson's " Elaine," and a miscella- 
neous programme. For six years Mr. Woollett has 
been brought into competition with readers whose 
reputation was won after his had been assured ; yet 
he holds his rank still in spite of rivalry, and is to- 
day one of the most popular readers in the East. 
Last summer, in the presence of a fashionable audi- 
ence, gathered at the Casino in Newport, Mr. Wool- 
lett recited Sir Henry Taylor's magnificent drama, 
" Philip Van Artevelde." 

Mr. Woollett has frequently desired to visit the 
West. But his arduous engagements in the East 
have prevented him from doing so until the present 
moment. He will make his first appearance in Chicago 
during January, 1886, and will undoubtedly receive 
there the cordial welcome which is accorded to him 
in New York and Boston. 



IV. 



It would be an easy and a pleasant task to fill 
many pages — in fact, a good-sized book — with the 
warm commendations that have been offered to Mr. 
Woollett by the public press, and with letters and 
testimonials and invitations that have been sent to 
him in recognition of his services. But the task, 
undertaken on so extended a scale, is hardly neces- 
sary. From a mass of articles and criticisms, in- 
spired by Mr. Woollett's work, I have selected a 
few extracts which suggest the tone of general 
comment. 

Mr. B. C. Woolf, in the Boston Saturday Evening 
Gazette : 

" When well-know characters, great actors or great authors, 
appear as public readers, the fact that they have already gained 
their laurels in other and perhaps more popular walks of art 
contributes to their success in their new field of labor. Curi- 
osity is excited to see the men and women face to face, and the 
magnet is not, perhaps, so much the intellectual treat provided, 
as the individuals themselves. Mr. Woollett has no such aids ; 
he is an elocutionist pure and simple ; he invites you to an enter- 
tainment of an intellectual character ; he asks you to spend an 
evening with writers of prose and poetry, who have contributed 
to their country's intellectual greatness ; he has no accessories. 
There is here nothing between the audience and the fpoem, for 

25 



26 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

Mr. Woollett merges his identity in his author, and from a 
memory phenomenal in its character he draws forth prose and 
poetry, serious, humorous, and dramatic, without a pause, and 
seemingly without an effort. No one who heard ' John May- 
nard ' or ' Horatius at the Bridge ' but thrilled with emotion 
at the reality of the seene ; no one who saw the gesture with 
which John Maynard hugged the wheel with his right arm 
when the left arm was burnt off and the flames were envelop- 
ing the devoted man, could fail to acknowledge the propriety 
and expressiveness of the action, and the artistic instinct which 
prompted it. Mr. Woollett's desire seemed to be to keep the 
author always in sight, and himself out of sight. The author 
was the principal personage ; the interpreter was a necessary 
accident, and it was only when the recitation closed that the 
interpreter took his rightful place." 

From the Boston Commonwealth : 

" It was our good fortune to attend the recitation given last 
Tuesday evening, the sixth and last of the present series, and 
it was rich, indeed, showing a versatility of style and 
adaptability to any demand which might be made on him which 
was truly surprising. He thrilled us with his earnestness, and 
moved us to tears with his passionate pathos. ' The Northern 
Farmer ' was totally different in character, and revealed the 
inborn and undying miser-spirit which sometimes possesses men 
even on the threshold of eternity ! " 

Mr. Clapp wrote in the Boston Advertiser : 

" Though he has been specially praised for his rendering of 
serious passages, the recitation of the famous speech of Sergeant 
Buzfuz, from 'Pickwick,' almost convinced one that it was in 
humorous recitation after all that his greatest power lay. The 
rendering was artistic in the highest degree, which implies the 
perfect concealment of art on the part of the reciter. But that 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 2/ 

it was true art was shown by the perfect attention to details — 
the deliberate opening, as though the whole speech was really 
exteinpore with the reciter ; the affected forgetfulness of dates 
and similar details, requiring a momentary interruption of the 
flow of bombast, for the purpose of consulting notes ; the 
prominence of the English cockney accent in the narrative 
passages, and numerous other points, were brought out in such a 
manner as to reveal new beauties in the wealth of humor which 
this short plea contains." 

The following letter is one among scores that 
Mr. Woollett has received : 

"71 Chester Square, Boston, April 9, 1875. 

" My Dear Mr. Woollett : — I must express to you the delight 
with which I listened to your admirable rendering of Shaks- 
peare's ' Merchant of Venice.' I frankly confess that I 
looked forward to the evening with some little misgiving. To 
go through such a play and personate such a variety of charac- 
ters — giving to each one a separate and marked individuality — 
seemed to me nearly impossible. To reproduce from memory 
all the parts in the exact language of Shakspeare — without a 
moment's hesitation ; to have a tone of voice for each character 
perfectly distinct — and yet without, in any instance, an approach 
to mimicry ; to pass from one passage to another without the 
semblance of an effort, and indeed with such apparent ease, 
that for the moment we forget what immense difficulties there 
were to overcome ; to accomplish all this seemed quite impos- 
sible, and yet — you did it. It was a complete success. You 
have done well before, but this surpassed in several respects all 
that preceded it. There is no need however of comparing it 
with what you have done before. But here the difficulties to 
be overcome seemed insuperable. Yet you with ease tri- 
umphed over them, and entered with such zest into the very 
spirit of the play, that you carried us all along with you, and 



38 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

have made that evening a memory for life. Believe me, with 
sincere regard, 

" Very truly your friend, 

" R. C. Waterston." 

From the Boston Traveller : 

" He has every thing in his favor. Wedded to a voice of 
rotund proportions, but exquisitely modulated to every varying 
shade of passion and pathos, he has a clear-cut and expressive 
face, lit up by a most speaking and captivating eye. His form 
is a pleasing one, his gestures apt and graceful, and his whole 
manner before an audience most pleasing. His readings, or 
rather let us say his recitations — for he never refers to a book, 
— have never been surpassed in this city, and they are models 
•of well-conceived elocution. He possesses the happy faculty 
of embodying character, and as a consequence, all his efforts 
are not only fraught with life, but they stand out in the boldest 
relief, while his rapid transitions " from grave to gay, from 
lively to severe," are most remarkable. The master of keen 
analysis, he fathoms the meaning of his subjects by intuition as 
it were, and those who listen to him may be sure of hearing a 
correct interpretation of the various subjects which he delivers. 
What he does, he does well. He is always pleasing, always 
delightful, always satisfactory, and invariably chaste and cor- 
rect. 

From the Newport correspondence of the New- 
York Herald : 

" A fashionable audience was attracted to the Casino Theatre 
last evening to listen to the recitations of Mr. Sidney Woollett. 
The entertainment was an undoubted success. Mr. Woollett 
has all through the season delighted the elite of the city with 
recitations in the parlors of Newport's most distinguished resi- 
dents, beginning as early as June, in Tennyson's 'Idyls of 
rthe King,' and continuing the recitals once a week, with selec- 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 29 

tions from Longfellow, Goldsmith, Byron, and other poets in a 
constantly varying programme, and to the increasing interest 
and admiration of his listeners. When it is considered that 
Mr. Woollett gives all his pieces entirely from memory, and 
has never during the season, except through some special re- 
quests, repeated his programme, the magnitude of this task 
must occasion some surprise." 

The Newport News wrote in this manner of Mr. 
Woollett's recital of " Hamlet ": 

" Mr. Woollett's last recital took place Tuesday evening, and 
those who have enjoyed the rare treat which he has given to 
the people of Newport cannot but feel sorry that these delight- 
ful entertainments are over. The interest in these recitals has 
been growing from evening to evening, and the ' Hamlet' of 
Tuesday night formed a climax to one of the best series of 
readings to w r hich Newport has ever had the pleasure of 
listening. 

" Mr. Woollett began his readings with the opening scene 
of this famous play, and read the more important parts to the 
end. The address of Polym'us to his son Laertes was one of 
the best numbers and brought forth deserved applause. Hamlet, 
in the conversation with his father's ghost, his soliloquy, 
and the address to the players, was portrayed in a most artistic 
style. Mr. Woollett endeavored to show that Hamlet was not 
really mad directly after he met the ghost of his father, but 
only feigned madness, and by so doing gradually brought on 
real madness. The most amusing and a cleverly rendered part 
of the reading was the graveyard scene between the two grave- 
diggers. The clownish characters of the diggers were clearly 
shown, and the flow of wit came from the reciter as if original." 

From the New York Times : 

" Mr. Woollett's Longfellow recitals have been, we are glad 
to know, intelligently appreciated. Good-sized and sympa- 



30 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

thetic audiences have listened to these recitals in the Turf 
Club Theatre, and Mr. Woollett has been encouraged to go on 
with his excellent work. This morning at 11:30 o'clock Mr. 
Woollett will give the fourth and last of his Longfellow recitals 
— in some respects the most interesting recital of the series. 
He will read to-day ' The Hanging of the Crane,' a poem which 
was presented by Mr. Longfellow to Mr. Woollett before it was 
made public in print, and which was read nine years ago by 
Mr. Woollett before an audience of 3,000 persons in the Boston 
Music Hall. Mr. Woollett's programme this morning will also 
include 'The Building of the Ship,' 'The Skeleton in Armor,' 
1 Sandalphon,' ' The Children's Hour,' and ' The Old Clock on 
the Stairs.' The encouragement which has been shown to this 
earnest, thoughtful, and dramatic reader has taken practical' 
form, and has led Mr. Woollett to announce a third series of re- 
citals, which will be begun shortly at the Turf Club Theatre. 
The new series will comprise recitations of two plays by 
Shakspeare, Tennyson's 'Elaine' and 'Guinevere, 'Longfel- 
low's ' Hiawatha,' and a programme of miscellaneous work." 

From the Philadelphia Inquirer : 

" Not only is Mr. Woollett letter perfect in this and a dozen 
other of Shakspeare's plays, but he gives to the text its ful- 
lest meaning — his voice seems capable of every variety of 
expression, and it is a real treat to the lover of Shakspeare to 
hear one of his plays recited with such thorough intelligence, 
Mr. Woollett stands as he recites, and may be said indeed to 
act the various characters of the drama as well as to recite the 
text." 

From the Brooklyn Union : 

" He is equally good in comic scenes as in those of a higher 
dramatic cast. Some of his interpretations are positively 
thrilling, he puts as it were each character before his audience, 
till one is puzzled to know how he can find so many different 



SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 3 1 

voices. All have an individuality that there is no mistaking. 
Another thing, too, he suits the action to the word and the 
word to the action, though he never indulges in extravagant 
gestures." 

Mr. William Winter in the New York Tribune : 

" Mr. Sidney Woollett began last Wednesday morning with 
Shakespeare's comedy of ' The Tempest,' a series of three 
recitals at the University Club Theatre. Mr. Woollett has 
condensed the piece so that his recital of it lasts but little 
more than an hour and a half. Acute in his perceptions and 
strong in his mimetic faculty this reader succeeded in convey- 
ing to his hearers (a refined and appreciative audience) an 
animated ideal of this delightful play. Due prominence was 
given to the character of Prospero. In the scenes between 
Prospero and Miranda, Mr. Woollett was peculiarly fortunate, 
faithfully depicting the trustful love of the daughter and the 
thoughtful tenderness of the father. The character of Ferdi- 
nand was presented as frank and manly, full of courtesy and 
obedience, but also replete with youthful fire. The beast-like 
attributes of Caliban, his growls and his compliments, were 
made especially effective by Mr. Woollett's treatment. In 
portraying the comic character of Trinculo and his comrade, 
the reader showed a rare fidelity to the text, and yet was droll 
without being vulgar. It is well to know what to leave out. 
Mr. Woollett's management of the story, at its close, showed a 
skilful sense of dramatic effect, and he may be credited with 
having accomplished a difficult task in a pleasing manner. 
' The Tempest ' is, of course, a work of delicate poetry, 
abounding in variety of character, strong dramatic contrast, 
and bustling incident. It is a work of imagination and, there- 
fore, belongs to the highest order of literature. Mr. Woollett 
has proved his fitness to entertain an intelligent audience by 
the dramatic exposition of works of this order." 



32 SIDNEY WOOLLETT. 

From the New York Herald : 

u Mr. Sidney Woollett's recitations are becoming so popular 
that it is no matter of surprise to see so large an audience as 
that assembled in Association Hall on Wednesday afternoon, to 
listen to his admirable recital of Tennyson's superb poem, 
'Enoch Arden.' The poet's license of rhythm and language 
may invest the most commonplace incidents of prosaic life with 
attractive interest, and in this Tennyson exceeds all others. 
Mr. Woollett's recital evinces the warmest appreciation of his 
subject, and his splendid elocution brings out the fullest 
expression to the best passages, while his complete transforma- 
tion of voice and gesture, as character requires and which is 
the charm of recitations, is wonderful." 

From the Philadelphia Telegraph : 

" ' Macbeth ' is one of the most difficult of Shakspeare's 
plays, but Mr. Woollett did full justice to it, and achieved a 
remarkable success. His memory is wonderfully accurate — 
his intonation clear — voice resonant and full, equal to all 
varieties of tone and expression ; and he possesses great 
mobility of feature, graceful carriage, and ease and simplicity 
of gesture. Although coming as a stranger, he has quickly 
grown in public favor, and he is bound to win appreciation 
and fame." 

The Rev. Charles T. Brooks wrote as follows in 
the Boston Transcript, in relation to Mr. Woollett's 
treatment of Tennyson's " Idyls " : 

" Mr. Woollett's rendering of the Idyls is a splendid achieve- 
ment ; it is quite out of the beaten track of elocutionary 
entertainments. Indeed, it is difficult to do justice to him 
without seeming extravagant. His method (if I may so name 



SIDNEY WOOL LETT. 33 

what seems to be the following out of a fine instinct) combines 
in a wondrous union painting, music, passionate impersonation, 
delicate delineation, and withal the transparent expression of a 
soul filled with the truth of nature. * * * I have heard 
many say, as I do, that they received through Mr. Woollett a 
new revelation of the meaning and moral of the Idyls. He 
really makes a second creation of the first. It is to his hearers 
a great re-creation in both senses of the word. A large repre- 
sentation of the beautiful sisterhood of the muses comes with 
him to the stage. One is reminded also in these performances of 
the motto on the wall of the Gewandhaus at Leipsic, "Res 
sever a est verum gaudium " (A serious thing is true joy). For, 
indeed, there is many a profound sermon in these Idyls. If, 
however, any have had an apprehension that there is any thing 
monotonous or tedious in listening to a poem of an hour's 
length, the first evening's experience with Tennyson in the 
hands of Mr. Woollett will quite dispel such a fear and convert 
it to the very opposite mood." 



A writer in the Providence Press commented on 
the same subject in these words : 

" Mr. Woollett seems to have grasped as nearly as it is 
possible the conception of the poet. Those who listened to 
his interpretation of the sad story of Elaine's love could not 
but have had brought before them, with more clearly defined 
lines than perhaps ever realized before, the loftiness of Lance- 
lot's character, notwithstanding that he was tainted with a 
' great and guilty love.' It is not too much to say that all old 
students of Tennyson who listen to Mr. Woollett's readings will 
see new delights in the poems, while those who have not already 
dived deeply into the works of the author of the ' Idyls of the 
King ' will have their eyes opened to a richness of thought that 
otherwise might long be hidden from them." 



34 SIDNEY WOOLLETT, 

Mr. Charles Dudley Warner wrote in the Hart- 
ford C our ant : 

" He has none of the tricks of the professional elocutionist, 
or, if he has, his art is so closely nature, that no one perceives 
them. His manner is perfectly natural, and he had not ad- 
vanced far in his first piece when every one present, we pre- 
sume, felt perfect confidence in his power, and at ease to enjoy 
his renderings. We soon see the secret of this power. It is 
in a perfect understanding of the intent of his author, and a 
singleness of purpose to make his hearers see it. He conveys 
the sentiment of a piece as perfectly as he limns a character. 
Take three selections as giving the range of his capacity : Sir 
Pertinax Mac Sycophant, the ideal representation in manner, 
voice, and sentiment of the Scotch sycophant ; ' The Prisoner of 
Chillon,' exhibiting his power of pathos and the delicacy of an 
exquisite conception of the poet's grace ; and ' Hiawatha's 
Childhood,' a conception utterly joyous, light as air, and free as 
a swallow on the wing. His reading throughout is scholarly, 
and always level to the best thought of his author. Common- 
sense and feeling are the keynotes of his interpretations, and 
his power of expression is happily equal to his conception." 



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